Be brave, be strong

So firstly a lot of our kids associate school with school work and home as the fun place where they don't do school work, so it’s important not to call homeschooling homework, I have found by calling it alternative schooling instead of home work has changed my son’s view of it, he now recognises he should be doing it even though it's home, and I've also explained this is because of the current situation.

If he was left to his own devices, rightly or wrongly he wouldn't do any school work, the only way I can get him to do any is to get it all printed out and organise it for him so he literally just has to do the work the same way he would when he is in class, to do that I have to access his teams, I then access the assignments, print them off, put them in folders of the subjects and set them all out on the table for him to work through, he chats away to me whilst doing the work and asks questions which I answer to the best of my ability.

There is absolutely no point in handing your child a computer and expecting them to just get on with their work, never going to happen! Even if they get minimal help at school its still help and also at school their teacher hands out sheets and sets tasks, so that is what they are used to. If you don't have a printer to print everything they’ve been asked to do, just make notes as to what they need to do, pick your battles!! My son refuses to do 2 subjects and that's ok because he is managing to do 4, also we do 3 days work and 4 off, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday works best for us then he feels like he is having a long weekend every week. Also if my son wants to work in bed, on the living room carpet or in the garden that's what we do, don't try and expect them to sit at a desk or the big table!! As long as the work gets done that's all that matters to us. I scribe for my son apart from Maths which he is happy to write himself.

It's important to understand PERSPECTIVE, EXPECTATION and probably most importantly NOT GIVING A CRAP ABOUT WHAT OTHERS THINK OF YOU!!

PERSPECTIVE allows you see things in new ways and get rid of EXPECTATIONS which are there for a hundred different reasons but ultimately only lead to disappointment and feeling let down. Yes I'm sure everyone wanted a perfect child who excelled in something and could speak French and play the violin BUT that's not who you have!! And the child you do have has some amazing qualities, you just have to recognise them for what they are and lower those pre-programmed expectations!! And most importantly, be brave, be strong and do what is best for you and your family, no one else matters.